Ch.399Chapter 399. I’ll Be Waiting for You

After arriving at Serpina’s army, not long after—

A response regarding prisoner negotiations came from Lunarian’s army.

The result was full acceptance of the prisoner exchange.

Some were puzzled that they agreed to all our terms without any objections, but since many more of our soldiers had been captured, it wasn’t particularly bad news for our army, so those voices quickly died down.

Some time later.

A prisoner exchange ceremony took place near the border.

Our representatives were myself and Lady Irene.

And the representatives from the Lunarian army were Francis von Einhart, Charlotte von Einhart, and Violet von Einhart.

“All three are royalty just like their lord?”

“Yes, that’s right. They’re survivors that Cain Nerkis had hidden away.”

Cain Nerkis—real name Kail von Einhart.

He was a core character in the Lunarian royal return concept. If you somehow managed to keep him alive, he would provide three S-class commanders, and these were those three people.

Since it was my first time seeing them in person, I felt strangely tense.

‘It would have been a disaster if we had brought our lord.’

Leaving behind Lady Serpina, who had wanted to come along, and coming by ourselves seemed to be the right decision after all.

Ms. Reika didn’t look like she could handle the long journey back and forth.

As we set up our base camp and waited—

From the other side, an unarmed soldier carrying a bright green flag came riding on horseback.

“All prisoners have arrived.”

“We will proceed with the exchange ceremony immediately.”

“Are you the representative?”

“Yes, I am.”

The soldier nodded and spoke to me in a careful tone.

“It might seem ridiculous for a mere soldier to say this to an enemy commander… but I want to thank you for proposing this prisoner exchange. Among the captured prisoners is someone who is like a benefactor to me.”

“Not at all. Hearing that makes me glad we made the proposal.”

“Well then, I’ll take my leave. The next time we meet will be on the battlefield.”

After sending the soldier back, I was reminded once again that this world was not a game.

Whether Cain Nerkis was a royal return character or whatever—none of that really mattered anymore.

They were living commanders in a very real world.

And, a few hours later—

The prisoner exchange ceremony began immediately.

“Swen, representative of Serpina’s army.”

“I am Irene Juliette of Serpina’s army.”

I greeted the three young commanders before me.

Two of them had sunflower-yellow golden hair that reminded me of Lady Serpina.

The woman had black hair, perhaps?

Although their hair colors differed, all three had golden eyes that looked like molten gold, making it clear they were royalty with Einhart blood flowing through their veins.

“…Francis von Einhart, representative of the Lunarian army.”

“Charlotte von Einhart of the Lunarian army.”

“Violet von Einhart of the Lunarian army.”

I extended my hand to the blonde man who called himself the representative.

A universal gesture—offering a handshake.

The man looked at me with a strange expression… then extended his hand and said:

“Are you Swen?”

“Yes, I am.”

“…Our lord has spoken about you a great deal.”

“You mean Luna?”

“You casually use a nickname. Even though you’re now under Serpina’s army.”

“Since you’ve heard about me, you must know that we used to be together.”

“That’s not what I’m asking.”

…What’s this?

Is he trying to pick a fight?

No, this was a bit different from simply provoking me. There was something… deflated about him.

It felt like he had given up, unable to do anything about the situation.

So there was no need to respond harshly here.

If he had shown his teeth aggressively, I would have given him a piece of my mind, but there was no need to reveal my hand to someone who already understood he couldn’t do anything about me.

“Since this doesn’t need to be drawn out, let’s proceed directly to signing the documents.”

“Let’s do that. However, there’s something I want to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“Do you know that the position of National Strategist in the Lunarian army is vacant?”

Huh?

Isn’t it filled?

I was under the impression that Ginor was serving as the strategist.

“Isn’t the esteemed Ginor Nighthart appointed as the National Strategist?”

“He was merely assigned the ‘role.’ Our lord has not recognized Ginor as the strategist. And Ginor himself understands this.”

“What?”

“Our lord repeatedly said it. That our nation has only one strategist. In the past, present, and future… that title cannot be used for anyone but that person. Very firmly, over and over.”

‘…!’

“As a subordinate commander, I once asked our lord to reconsider, as it caused confusion when dealing with Ginor, who was essentially handling all strategist duties, but it was completely useless. …You understand why I’m bringing this up, don’t you?”

I already knew that Luna held me in special regard, but…

I never imagined that he wouldn’t even recognize Ginor, the new strategist, as a strategist at all.

Suddenly, Ginor’s voice declaring that Luna was in love with me echoed in my mind.

“……”

“I don’t know when you’ll return to our lord’s side, but… just as our lord never abandoned you even as you wield the position of strategist while serving in an enemy army, I hope you won’t betray our lord either.”

With that, my conversation with Francis ended—

I also exchanged brief handshakes with Charlotte and Violet.

Charlotte didn’t say much, but Violet spoke to me as soon as she saw me.

“So you’re Lord Swen.”

“Yes, I am. Pleased to meet you, Lady Violet.”

“Pleased to meet you. Though it doesn’t feel like we’re meeting for the first time. There has always been an invisible white-haired strategist by our lord’s side.”

“……”

“My brother has already said his piece, so I won’t add much… but we will be waiting, Strategist.”

With that, the meeting with the delegation concluded—

Francis and I immediately signed the documents.

That concluded the prisoner exchange ceremony.

As I had expected, the process was surprisingly quick.

Afterward, under the guidance of soldiers, our prisoners went to their side—

And simultaneously, their prisoners came to our side.

Among them was a woman whose face I recognized.

“Lord Swen…!”

“Lady Silin. I’m glad to see you’re well.”

“I, I heard everything…! That our lord specifically named me first…!”

“Lady Silin is a valuable talent for our army. Of course we had to bring you back by any means necessary.”

My words were not empty flattery, at least at this point.

Someone of Silin’s caliber was good enough to be appointed as the lord of a small castle in our current situation.

In fact, for our army, which was mostly composed of inexperienced novice commanders hastily recruited through conscription orders, someone of her caliber was truly a blessing.

“Thank you… thank you so much…!”

After the prisoner exchange ceremony ended—

The three siblings glanced in our direction before mounting their horses and heading toward their base camp.

From my perspective, they were all just people I was meeting for the first time, but it seemed that from their perspective, I wasn’t quite so unfamiliar or awkward.

‘Did Luna talk about me that much normally….’

As I was lost in thought, Lady Irene approached me, placed her hand on my shoulder, and said:

“You did well, Swen.”

“It was nothing. You and the staff did all the hard work. All I did was ride in a carriage and sign my name on some fancy documents.”

“You were the one who pushed for this prisoner exchange in the first place.”

“…In truth, you know that wasn’t really my goal, right?”

“The purpose is important, but what’s more important is the result.”

The purpose is important, but what’s more important is the result—

Somehow, it seemed like a sentence that symbolized the twists and turns of my life, where I always tried to fit various puzzle pieces into predetermined outcomes, making me smile bitterly without realizing it.

“All three of them seemed to know you.”

“It seems so. Though they’re strangers to me.”

“The man who called himself the representative resembled Lady Serpina greatly. It seems the claim about Einhart blood being mixed in was no lie.”

“So… what will you do now, Swen?”

I laughed casually at Irene’s question.

“There’s no way I could go back.”

“…I suppose not.”

If I don’t go back, what happens now?

Will we continue to repeat this war?

If Lord Ginor had persuaded Luna well, and if we could create an opportunity to talk, we might be able to end this wretched war—

That’s what I had been thinking until then.

* * *

But.

“The Lunarian army is marching toward our territory with 80,000 troops!”

“The Lunarian army is marching toward Hispil Castle with 95,000 troops!”

What we heard were the urgent cries of messengers, proving that this war was far from over.